A Writer's Worst Nightmare
by hawkeye1365
Summary: Before the world ended, Quinn Scott was writing a book series about the very hell the world is now being forced to survive in: a zombie apocalypse. She may not have created this nightmare, but now she must survive in it. What skills could a writer possibly bring to the table? What will she lose, and what will she gain in this new world?
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1: Starved For Help

September 8, 2010/Day 53 of the global outbreak.

It was hunting day – the day four people were sent into the woods to try and find _**any**_ kind of animal life, that the walkers hadn't already gotten their decaying hands on. The trouble was the walkers were becoming better hunters than the living. There was almost nothing left for the living to find.

The group of four was divided up into pairs, that way they could cover more ground and not have to risk sending anyone off alone. One of the pairs consisted of two men – Lee and Mark.

Lee had been on his way to prison for killing a State Senator that was sleeping with his wife, when the police vehicle crashed into a walker. When he woke up the next day, he found the world had changed. He found a little girl, Clementine, who was hiding in her treehouse where the walkers couldn't get to her; and a young man, Shawn Greene, who was on his way to his family's farm.

Shawn took Lee and Clementine with him to his family's farm, where they spent the night. The next day, Shawn was bitten by a walker and his father, Hershel, dismissed Lee and Clementine from his property; along with another family of three. They headed for the Air Force base just outside of Atlanta – a place that was safe, according to the radio – but they never made it. Their truck ran out of gas, and they were forced to make a run for it by the walkers. It was how they found themselves in a mall for the next two weeks, until Mark arrived.

Mark and a fellow Airman had stolen a truck and escaped an overrun military base just outside of Atlanta. They'd nearly crashed it into the mall where the rest of the group had been staying, as they tried to avoid the walkers. The group managed to save Mark, but not his comrade. In return, he warned them of the military's plan to cleanse Atlanta with fire.

Together, they packed up whatever supplies they might need, distracted the walkers, loaded everything into Mark's truck, and headed out of the city. All of that food court food and vending machine food had seemed like so much at the time. But having to feed 2 children and 9 adults everyday had quickly diminished it to almost nothing.

In another part of the woods, a man named Kenny was hunting with a woman named Quinn Scott. Kenny and his family had been on their way back to For Lauderdale from visiting his sister-in-law, when the world took a turn for the worse. Like so many others, they'd heard about all the strange incidences, but it only became real to them when a walker tried to grab Kenny's son, Duck, at a gas station. He'd initially thought it was just a man trying to kidnap his son, until he got a better look at it.

Kenny and his family continued South, until they found Hershel's farm. He was kind enough to let them stay in his barn that night, along with Lee and Clementine. The next day, the five of them were asked to leave. They headed for the only other safe place they could think of, only to be met with car trouble and walkers.

Lilly's group was kind enough to take them in, only ask for one thing in return: to check them all for bites. Kenny and the others didn't yet know that it was the bite of a walker that turned you into one of them. It made them feel worse for Shawn Greene, and curious to know how their group had come to know this. One of their own, a little girl, had come in with a bite. By the next morning, she had turned into a walker. That little girl had been Quinn's 11 year old niece.

Quinn's sister was a scientist at the CDC. When all hell broke loose, Quinn tried to make it to the CDC with her niece; but a pizza delivery vehicle had run her off the road and wrecked her car. The boy driving it, Glenn, saved her and her niece from the walkers, and helped them to the mall, where they met the rest of their group. She was sad to see him go his own way, when their group left the mall, because even though her niece never make it out, Quinn wouldn't be here today, if it weren't for Glenn.

Quinn and Kenny watched a bird land in a tree, just up ahead. Kenny knelt behind a boulder, and aimed his weapon at the bird.

Quinn touched his shoulder lightly. "Don't. The noise'll bring walkers. That tiny thing isn't worth the shot."

"Yours is quieter. Think you could get it?" he asked, gesturing to the bird.

Quinn looked down at her bow. She wasn't terrible with it – she was actually quite good – she just doubted herself. Spending a little time at the archery range every year at the Renaissance Festival was entirely different from hunting for your next meal. Sure, she'd been practicing since she grabbed the bow in the sporting goods shop in the mall; but her body was only just beginning to develop the callouses and muscles necessary for shooting arrows regularly.

"Shit," Kenny mumbled. "No point now."

While Quinn had been trying to convince herself that she could do it, the bird had flown away. Quinn sighed in frustration at herself, but Kenny didn't seem all that bothered. Although it was still technically food flying away, it wasn't much of a meal – no great loss.

"So where'd Lee come up with that, anyway?" Kenny asked, resuming their search for food.

"Come up with what?" Quinn asked.

"Walkers. I mean, it makes some sense – the dead are up and walkin' all around us. But what about 'the dead' or 'corpse'? Hell, anything that implies what's up and walkin' is already dead."

Quinn smiled. "Do you remember that book series I was working on, before all of this?"

"You mean the one that was about the very hell we're now livin'?" His tone held the same level of disapproval it always did, when the subject of her book came up. It was almost as if he blamed her for the apocalypse, just because she was writing about one. _**Almost**_.

Quinn ignored his accusatory tone. "I called the series '_The Walking Dead'_. Lee said calling them that was too much of a mouthful, so-"

"So he shortened it to walkers," he guessed. Kenny seemed impressed with Lee, like he usually was.

Quinn nodded. She was just about to tell him how she hadn't even come up with a name for the walkers in her book yet, when they heard a scream in the distance. It was a man's scream. They shared a brief look of concern, before taking off to find the source.

The entire time they were running, both Kenny and Quinn had expected to find Lee or Mark being eaten by walkers – at the very least, bitten. But what they found was nothing they could have imagined. It was a man caught in a bear trap, with two teenage boys at his side. Mark and Lee were both fine, and only just arrived themselves.

"Lee! You guys okay?" Kenny asked.

"Get it off!" shouted the man. "Get it off, God dammit, get it off me!"

"Oh shit! No. No...Please don't kill us! We just wanna help our teacher! We'll leave, I swear!" said one of the boys. They both seemed genuinely frightened of the other four adults now staring at them.

The other boy turned to his friend. "Travis, maybe they can help!"

"These might be the same guys that raided our camp and...We _**barely**_ got away from that!" Travis argued.

"What guys?" Mark tried to ask.

"Why the fuck is there a bear trap out here?" Kenny questioned.

With all the yelling and panic from the teenagers, Quinn began looking around for movement in the trees.

"It's okay," Lee told them. "We're not gonna hurt you."

"Don't listen to them, Ben," Travis told his friend. "Please, just let us go! We're no threat to you!"

"Kid, chill out!" Kenny snapped at him. "We'll try to help you, but you got to shut the fuck up!"

"This is fucked up. We've gotta help 'em," said Mark.

"Please!" Ben begged.

Travis turned to Ben, again. "Ben, shit up! My dad was Special Forces, I know what I'm doing!"

Ben ignored his friend. "Just see if you can get him out! After that you can leave us or whatever, I don't care! Please!"

Lee looked to Quinn for her opinion.

"If you're gonna help him, do it quick. With all this yelling, the walkers will be here soon," she warned.

With the only other option being to leave the two boys and their teacher to be eaten by walkers, the group began doing their best to free the man from the bear trap's grip. There was just one problem: there was no release latch. Whoever left the trap in the first place, removed the release latch, so that whatever was caught in it could not free itself. But what exactly were they hoping to trap that was capable of releasing itself?

"We've got company," Quinn announced.

Walkers began emerging from the trees. Like Quinn had said they would, they had been attracted by all the shouting. Now the smell of food in front of them was roweling them up more.

"Shit! Walkers!" Kenny confirmed. "It's now or never, Lee."

"Please...get me out of this!" the teacher begged.

Lee weighed the options in front of him, carefully; and there was only one real solution. If he tried to find another way, it wasted precious time to escape, and someone would be grabbed by the walkers. If they tried to take down all the walkers to give them more time to free the man, they would only waste ammo and still be overrun.

The third option, he liked the least: they could leave them all to fend for themselves. But Lee couldn't do that. Leaving them now, like this, was a death sentence. The only way they stood a chance was to cut their teacher's leg off with his ax. So that's what he did.

Without any warning, Lee began hacking into the man's leg to free him. The man cried out in pain, as the others began shooting the walkers closest to them.

Travis was sickened by the site, and moved away to throw up. His teacher passed out from the pain.

"If he's alive, grab him and let's go!" said Kenny. The walkers were getting closer.

Mark hoisted the teacher onto his shoulders and began carrying him back to the motel. Kenny lead the way to take care of any walkers. Ben and Lee were about to follow suite, when they heard Quinn shout "Behind you!"

Ben's friend Travis had been too busy puking to notice just how close the walkers were. By the time he looked up to check, they had grabbed him and were piling on to devour him.

"Travis!" Ben shouted. He tried to run to his friend, but it was too late.

Lee and Quinn grabbed him and guided him to follow the others back to the motel. There was no help for his friend, now.

* * *

It was chaos, when they got back to the motel. Many people were concerned and confused by the new faces Quinn and the boys had brought back with them. Who were they? Why were they here? Why was one of them missing a leg?

Kenny and Lilly butted heads, as usual, about it. Lilly felt it wasn't smart bringing two more mouths to feed, when food was so low already. Kenny and Lee argued that they couldn't just leave them to die. These people were in trouble, so they helped them. Lilly may like to think of their group as her own personal dictatorship, but she isn't in charge of people's lives.

"You know what? If you think I'm doing such a shitty job, then you do it." Lilly pulled out the day's rations and handed them to Lee. There was a piece of jerky, half an apple, and two cheese and crackers snack packs. "That's all the food we have for today. _**You**_ decide who gets to eat. You see how it feels to not have enough food for everyone."

Lee looked down at the pathetic excuse for rations in his hands. There were only four items and eleven hungry people. Who to feed, and who to let go hungry for another day?

"Apply some pressure here, while I try to close this up," said Katjaa.

Quinn did her best to help without looking. She didn't mind helping Katjaa with injuries, but the more severe ones like a chopped off leg made her feel ick to look at too much.

Katjaa grew more flustered. "What were you all thinking in bringing him here? Even if he lives, we aren't going to be able to take care of him..."

"They would have died, if we left them," Quinn defended. "We had to try and help them."

Katjaa sighed. "Yeah, I know. The right thing is just scary sometimes, I guess."

"Everything is scary, these days," said Quinn.

Katjaa made a face that said she agreed. "Well, you've done all you can for me. Why don't you go get cleaned up? I need a little space here, anyways."

Quinn looked down at the sticky, crimson liquid on her hands. This was a site she wasn't sure she'd ever get used to. She took a deep breath, and began walking across the parking lot to get cleaned up.

Along the way she passed by Carley and Doug. Doug was setting up an early warning system with some bells. He was explaining to Carley how they worked, as Quinn walked by.

"I set up triplines at four locations, and each one triggers on of these four bells. So-"

"So we'll know where they are and how long we have," Carley guessed. "That's really clever."

Quinn wasn't sure if it was because Doug had saved her when this all started, or the limited selection of men, or if Carley genuinely liked Doug. But she doubted the two of them ever would have ended up together, if it weren't for the apocalypse.

Not far down the wall from Doug and Carley, Larry was picking on Lee, again. Quinn wasn't sure what about – it happened so often that she'd just learned to tune it out. The most she could tell was that Larry was unhappy, as usual, about something; and Mark was trying, and failing, to keep the peace.

Quinn glanced over at Clem and Duck. Ben was with them, and they were laying on the ground drawing, with Kuru. Kuru was a large dog of unknown breed – probably a lab and retriever mix. His fur was a light brown, like a walnut. In fact, he'd been named as such, because Kurumi was Japanese for walnut.

Before everything went to hell, Kuru had belonged to Quinn's sister. But given the circumstances, it seemed he was her dog now.

Kuru lifted his head and wagged his tail at the sight of Quinn. That's what alerted Ben to Quinn's presence. She did her best to hide her hands, and picked up the pace, before Clem or Duck could look at how much blood she was covered in.

Ben followed her inside of her room. "Hey, is Mr. Parker gonna make it?"

Quinn kept her back to him, as she began scrubbing away the crimson stain on her hands. "I'm not sure. But Katjaa's doing her best. I promise."

"...I can't believe he just chopped off his leg."

"It was the fastest way to get him free." Quinn turned to face him now, her face sincere. "I'm sorry we couldn't do the same for your friend Travis."

Ben looked saddened by the memory of watching his friend get eaten only a short time ago.

"You said Mr. Parker was your teacher?"

"He was the band director at my school," said Ben. "We all came down from Stone Mountain for the playoffs, when...when everything happened."

Quinn had no idea where Stone Mountain was, but she could appreciate the fact that these kids weren't at home with their families when everything happened. Their parents were/are probably worried sick. Then Quinn realized something more awful: where was the rest of the band? She had been a choir girl herself back in high school, but she'd had a lot of friends in band and knew they typically consisted of a lot more members than two. So what happened to the other kids?

Before Quinn could ask, Lee knocked on her open door. He looked at Ben. "How you holding up, kid?"

"Uh, well, I, uh...I keep wondering if I could have done something to help, you know? Some kind of...I don't know. _**Something**_."

"It was a tense situation," said Lee. "You'll be prepared next time."

"Next time? Yeah..."

Lee watched as Ben left Quinn's room. He waited for Ben to get far enough away, before handing Quinn the piece of jerky. "Here."

"I ate yesterday," Quinn reminded him.

"I know. I also know you give half of your rations to Kuru so he won't starve."

It was sad, but true. Lilly didn't care about Kuru – she only cared about keeping the adult humans fed. They all knew Quinn gave half of her food to her dog, but in Lilly's opinion, that was her choice and thus did not warrant giving her more food.

"What about the kids?"

"Already taken care of," said Lee. "Fed Kenny, too."

"What about Katjaa? Don't you think our resident pseudo-doctor should be kept fed?"

"I tried offering her some food, but she didn't want it. Said she was too busy."

"What about you? Why don't you take it?"

"Because you get less food than any of us," said Lee. "The rest of us only have to worry about how many days until our next snack pack. You have that on top of only getting half of what Lilly gives you." He pressed the jerky into her hand. "Take it."

Quinn gave him a 'thank you' smile, then called Kuru. Kuru came running. When he saw the jerky in her hand, he sat perfectly still, awaiting his treat – just like Quinn's brother-in-law had taught him. Quinn tore the jerky in half, and the two of them dug in.

"Thank you, Lee," said Quinn.

"Don't mention it." He glanced back at the door to make sure Ben wasn't nearby, before asking, "So do think that guy's gonna make it?"

Quinn was just about to answer, when they heard a scream. Like before with Kenny in the woods, the two barely hesitated before taking off to find the source. Once again, what they found was not what they could have imagined.

"Get out of the damn way!" said Larry.

Kenny shoved Mr. Parker's reanimated corpse away from himself, and Larry took a swing at him with Lee's ax. He missed.

"Dammit! I had it!" Larry shouted, as though it had been Kenny's fault he missed.

The walker Mr. Parker lunged at Kenny. Lee tackled the walker to the ground, before it could touch Kenny. The two struggled on the ground, until Larry yelled at Lee to get out of the way. Rather than stand up only to be grabbed or bitten, Lee rolled onto his back with the walker on top of him, holding him at arms length.

Larry took another swing with the ax, not particularly caring if he missed and hit Lee. He hit his target in the back of the head, and Mr. Parker's body fell still once more. He was truly dead, now.

Everyone stood there in stunned silence for a good minute or two, before Larry broke it.

"Why'd you bring him here in the first place, asshole?!" he shouted at Lee.

Lilly stepped in to calm her father, before he had another heart attack. But Larry wasn't the only one that was angry at what had just happened. Kenny's wife had been the first one grabbed by Mr. Parker, after he reanimated. If he hadn't gotten to his wife as quick as he did, Katjaa would have been bitten.

Kenny's rage flared as his eyes landed on Ben. "Why didn't you tell us he was bitten?!"

"He wasn't bitten! I swear!" said Ben.

"Well, your 'not-bitten' friend here came back to life and tried to kill my wife!" Kenny argued.

Ben's face shifted from fear to surprise. "Wait...y'all don't know?"

"Know what?" Quinn asked. She'd stayed back with Duck and Clementine to keep them safe, in case Mr. Parker took notice of them.

"It's not the bite that dies it," said Ben. "You come back no matter how you die. If you don't destroy the brain, that's just what happens. It's gonna happen to _**all**_ of us."

Everyone stared at Ben in disbelief, as though hoping this was some kind of lie to get him out of trouble for not telling them that his teacher had been bitten.

"We're all infected? All of us?" Lee asked.

"I-I guess so. All I know is that I've seen people turn who I _**know**_ were never bitten," said Ben. "When I first saw it happen, we were all hiding out in a gym and everybody thought we were finally safe. But one of the girls, Jenny Pitcher I think, I guess she couldn't take it. She took some pills. A lot of them. Someone went into the girls' room the next morning and...God..."

No one knew what to say. Clementine clung tighter to Quinn.

All they had to worry about before was not getting bitten. Now they were being told that they would end up a walker no matter how they died. What happens if one of them starves to death? They could come back and kill everyone.

One of Doug's early warning bells jingled, signaling someone was coming. They all ducked down to hide, and waited. The two men who had set off the alarm bickered, as they approached the motel. When the group felt they had come too close for comfort, they rose up and aimed their weapons at the two strangers.

"That's far enough!" said Kenny.

"Woah shit! Okay, okay...No problem," said one of the men.

"We don't want any trouble," said Lee.

"Of course. Neither do we," said the same stranger. "I'm Andy St. John. This here's my brother Dan. We're just out looking for gasoline. Looks like you folks got the motel locked down, which is fine, but if you could spare any gas we'd be much obliged."

"What do you need gas for?" Lilly asked.

"Our place is protected by an electric fence," said Dan. "Generators provide the electricity..."

"Our generators run on gas," Andy added.

The group exchanged looks. Some seemed excited at the prospect of such a safe place. A couple felt this was too good to be true.

"Look, we own a dairy farm a few miles up the road. If ya'll be willing to lower your guns, we can talk about some kind of trade," said Andy.

"How y'all doin' on food? We got plenty at the dairy," said Dan.

The mere mention of food made everyone's stomach growl. A few of the more clear heads were skeptical of the promise of food. Yet the St. John brothers appeared to not be suffering from lack of it, like they all were. Could it be true? Could they really have so much food, that they could afford to share it?

"Lee, why don't you and Mark check the place out – see if it's legit," said Lilly.

"We'll go too, improve the numbers, in case we run into anything dead," said Carley, referring to herself and Doug.

"So, uh, what are y'all thinkin'?" Andy asked.

"You've got a deal."

* * *

**_A/N: I know this chapter isn't very long, but there was a lot of background information and changed recap information to process, that I felt it was enough of a teaser to intrigue some of you into wanting to read more. This series is going to be a crossover between the TV show and the Tell-Tale games. It will start with season 1 of the game, and then go on to season 1 of the TV show. I'll let you know at the end of each season what we'll be going to next (TV or Game), because I will be covering all 4 seasons of the game._**

_**In order to make it all work, I will have to alter the timeline a bit as well as the ages of a couple of people. For example, instead of them being at the motel for 3 months, I've had them there for 1, because 3 months would mean that Rick has already woken up from the hospital and found his family. And I can't extend the amount of time Rick was in his coma, because it was a miracle as it is that he survived as long as he did. Any longer would just be unbelievable and unrealistic. As for the age changes, you'll understand when they come about.**_

_**I hope this chapter was enough to entice you into wanting more. Please let me know what you think in a review. Let me know how you think this is going to play out. Let me know what you'd like to see happen in this story, no matter how far down the road it is.**_


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2: Guess Who's Coming to Dinner

The St. John's Dairy was nothing like what the group was expecting. Lee did his best to keep an open mind about the place, despite Mark's overly optimistic enthusiasm. But as much as he wanted this place to be the safe harbor that they desperately needed, he could not in good conscience bring Clementine or allow Kenny to bring his family here, if it turned out to be unsafe.

On the surface, the dairy seemed to be what the St. John's had said it was. They had plenty of open field, surrounded by a self-made electric fence, which was indeed powered by generators. Mrs. St. John had even been kind enough to offer them a basket of biscuits for Doug and Carley to take back to their group.

Still, something seemed off to Lee. His suspicion only grew, when he and Mark ran into a bit of trouble. The two had been clearing dead walkers from the fence while it was powered down, when the fence suddenly came back on. But why would Andy turn it on again, when he knew they were still out there?

The fence hadn't been the only issue. Not five minutes later, Lee and Mark were being shot at by bandits in the woods. They had to carefully walk alongside a tractor as it rolled, until they reached the gate; but Mark still wound up shot in the shoulder with an arrow.

Lee and Mark were talking to the St. Johns about the bandits, when the rest of the group arrived. It took them a moment to even notice that something was wrong, but once they all saw that arrow sticking out of Mark's shoulder, they greeted him with various concerned remarks and questions.

"I'm fine," Mark lied. "I should just...pull it out..."

"Oh no, honey, c'mon, Brenda's got you. C'mon inside now. We'll have you all sorted out."

The rest of the group watched as Brenda St. John and Katjaa took Mark inside the house to patch him up. All the adults then shared a look of understanding that this was not a discussion they wanted the children to witness.

"Hey, kids, look a swing," said Quinn cheerfully.

"A swing! I love swings! Just like at my treehouse!" Clementine took off running towards the swing. "C'mon, Duck!"

Once Quinn and the kids were out of hearing range, Lee explained to everyone what had happened. It didn't make the others feel anymore comfortable with the idea of being here. What made it worse still was when the St. John boys told them about the deal they'd had with the bandits.

"You knew about these people?" Kenny questioned in shock.

"God dammit! Carley said this place was locked down tight!" Larry growled.

Carley wasn't able to defend herself this time. She, Doug, and Ben had stayed back at the motor inn with the dog. It made sense, given they needed someone to protect the place still, and they'd eaten most of the biscuits by the time they'd returned to the motel.

"So much for your 'deal'," said Lee.

"Listen, we may have had an agreement with those people, but we will _**not**_ stand for this shit," said Andy.

"Ain't no way we're gonna let those sons of bitches get away with this," Danny agreed.

"You know where these assholes are?" Kenny asked.

"They're hard to pin down, but I think I know where at least one of their camps are," said Danny. Sensing there were a few things to discuss, he added, "When you're ready to go scope out that bandit camp, come find us."

Lee, Kenny, Larry, and Lilly waited for the St. John brothers to walk out of hearing range, before discussing what they should do. Kenny and Lee, of course, wanted to go and check out these bandits – anything to make this place more safe for the kids.

Lilly didn't trust the farm one bit, and made it clear that she didn't think they should stay. Kenny, of course, argued with her. He felt the farm was a lot safer than the motor inn, and they should be prepared to take this place if they had to.

"Whoa, cool your jets there, Rambo. These are nice people. Let's not do anything to get us thrown out before we eat," said Larry.

"I'm gonna head out with Danny to search for that bandit camp," said Lee.

"Me too," said Kenny.

"While we're gone, why don't you two try to make friends with Andy and Brenda," Lee suggested. "Maybe we can get some more information to help us decide what to do."

Larry and Lilly nodded in agreement, then went their separate ways.

* * *

Quinn had done her best to keep the two children occupied with the swing, and for the most part she'd succeeded. Duck wasn't all that happy waiting and wishing it was his turn for the swing, but Clementine was more observant than that. She could tell there was something going on with the adults, and she kept looking to Lee to figure it out. It also didn't help that their voices were beginning to carry.

"What do you think of the dairy, Clementine?" Quinn asked, trying to redirect her attention.

"It's pretty," said Clementine. "It reminds me of how things used to look before."

"Yeah, it does."

"Do you think things will ever get back to how they were?" Clem asked.

Quinn was glad Clementine couldn't see her face fall. "...I'm not sure, Clem. I hope so."

"I hope so, too." Clementine let Quinn push her a few more times on the swing, before asking, "Is Mark gonna be okay?"

"I think he will," said Quinn. "He could have been hurt a lot worse than he is. He got lucky."

"Is Lee going to find the people who hurt Mark?"

"Probably, Clem. He has to make sure this place is safe for all of us, especially you," said Quinn. She noticed the concern on the little girl's face. "Don't worry, Clem. Lee will be fine."

"I just want him to stay lucky, too," said Clem.

"Lee's one of the luckiest men I've ever met. Besides, I don't think anything could ever keep him from coming back to you," said Quinn.

Clementine smiled.

Quinn saw Lee heading over, and figured he might wanna talk to Clem. "Alright, Clem, it's time for Duck to have a turn."

"Okay." Clementine hopped off the swing to let Duck on. He was beyond excited for it to be his turn.

"Hey, Clem," said Lee.

"Hey, Lee."

"How are you liking the swing?" he asked.

"It's fun!" said Clem. "I missed having one."

"I'm glad you like it." Lee glanced over at Quinn.

"Does this mean you're going now?" Clementine asked him.

"Yeah. But I'll be back soon, okay?"

"Please be lucky," said Clementine.

Lee glanced over at Quinn again. She smiled and gave him an encouraging nod.

"I will, Clem. I promise."

* * *

"You're back! What happened?" Brenda called from the porch.

"Handled it, momma," Danny replied, bringing the weapons back to where they belonged.

Lee watched him as he went, but Kenny was looking around at the relatively empty dairy around them. He saw Lilly and Larry sitting in the gazebo nearby, but where were the others - where were the children and Kuru?

"Where the hell is everyone?" Kenny wondered aloud.

Lee looked around, too. "Maybe they're in the barn."

"Think we should tell Lilly what we saw at the bandit camp?" Kenny asked, as they began walking towards the barn.

Lee thought it over carefully. He felt they should share what they saw with someone, but Lilly and Larry weren't exactly the types to listen to hardly anyone, especially Lee and Kenny. "Probably," said Lee. "But I got a feeling that she and Larry will only tell us to keep our noses out of the St. Johns' business, and not get ourselves thrown out before we've had something to eat."

"Yeah, you're right," Kenny agreed. "Just thought I should ask."

The two men opened the barn doors, and stepped inside. They found everyone sitting inside, just as Lee had suggested they might be. Katjaa was taking care of the St. Johns' sick cow, with Andy and the kids watching her. Quinn was standing in the back of the barn by a large door.

The men's immediate thoughts were to check in with their respective families; but when they glanced over at Quinn, she gestured for them to join her at the back.

"What's up?" Lee asked her.

"How was the camp? Did you find anymore of those guys who tried to kill Mark?" Quinn asked.

"We found a woman in the woods. She was talking all crazy shit, had a crossbow aimed right at us...so Danny killed her," said Kenny.

"What?! Why, was she one of those bandits?"

"I don't know," said Lee. "I think she was trying to tell us something, but then Danny just went off."

"Jesus..." Quinn glanced over to make sure Andy was still distracted with Katjaa and the cow. "These people are hiding something."

"What makes you say that?"

"My gut. What you both just told me about what happened at the bandit camp." She gestured to the large door next to them. "The moment we came in, Andy locked it up real tight. I got a quick look in there. They've got boxes and sharp, metal objects all in there."

"Let's not get paranoid, here. He was probably just trying to keep the kids safe from the sharp objects you saw back there," said Lee.

"Maybe. But there are children here, counting on us to keep them safe, so I can't just ignore this feeling," Quinn argued.

"I gotta agree, Lee. Somethin's definitely off about these people," said Kenny. "What about you? What about Clem?"

"I'll protect her no matter what," said Lee.

"I know you will."

"We have to get in there and take a good look," said Quinn.

"Go find me a hammer or somethin', and I'll have this thing off in a second," said Kenny. "You two back me up, in case them farmers come runnin'."

"Hang on, man, think this through. You smash the lock, then what if it turns out you're wrong? You just fucked your chance to get a good meal in those kids you're trying to protect," Lee argued. "Use your head, Kenny."

"Alright, Professor. What'd you have in mind?"

The three of them looked at the lock, as they tried to figure out a more subtle way of breaking into the back room.

"Hey, Lee. You know how to pick a lock, right?" Kenny asked.

"No. Why would you say that?"

"Well, you're, uh...you know...urban?"

Quinn covered her mouth to hide the light snort of laughter.

"Oh, you are not saying what I think you're saying," said Lee.

"Jesus, man, I'm from Florida. Crazy shit just comes out of my mouth, sometimes," said Kenny. "Sorry."

"I think I know a way in," said Quinn, breaking up the awkwardness between the two men. "See those screws? All we have to do is take off the assembly, then we can have a peek inside. After that, it's just a simple matter of screwing it back on. No one will ever know we were in there."

"Alright. Sounds like you got a plan," said Kenny. "I'll hang around and keep an eye on that guy with the cow."

"Andy."

"Shit, I-I thought that was Danny. Whatever."

"You know, we're gonna need to distract Andy, too," said Quinn. "We can't exactly break in here unnoticed with him sitting right there."

Lee thought for a moment. "When Mark and I first arrived, Andy was complaining about the generator outside. If I could sabotage it somehow – make it look like it's just acting up – he'd have to go outside and fix it."

"That could work."

"Alright, let's get to it," said Kenny.

Kenny walked over to where his family, Clementine, and Andy were all gathered. It wasn't all that suspicious for him to lean against the stall wall and watch, considering it was his wife and child sitting there. Meanwhile, Lee and Quinn headed outside to find a screwdriver of some kind and to set up their distraction for Andy.

When they got outside they noticed Larry in the distance, talking to Brenda. She giggled a lot, making it seem more like Larry was flirting with her. Quinn made a face of disgust.

"Come on," said Lee. "We probably don't have long before dinner, and we won't be able to excuse ourselves from that without raising suspicion."

Lee knelt down next to the generator to look at what he could do, while Quinn began looking around for a tool of some kind. She didn't have to look very hard. Not too far from the barn, there was a sawhorse with a tackle box on top. Quinn peeked inside. There was no screwdriver, but there was a multitool. Quinn grabbed it and walked back over to Lee.

"Any luck?" Quinn asked.

"I could probably open it up and remove the belt – make it look like it threw the belt. But I need a screwdriver just to get to it," he replied. "I don't suppose you've found one."

"No, but I did find this." Quinn held out the multitool.

"That'll work."

Lee took the tool and opened up the generator. There was no safe way of removing the belt while the machine was still on, so he switched it off. After removing the belt, he quickly screwed the panel closed again, and the two walked away fast. By the time Andy exited the barn to see what was wrong with it, Lee and Quinn were standing off to the side, carrying on a casual conversation. Their plan was working, so far.

After a couple more minutes of chatting, so as not to arouse suspicion, Quinn and Lee headed back into the barn. They were just approaching Kenny to tell him that they were set to go, when someone began ringing a dinner bell.

"Mom! Dad! It's dinner time!" cried Duck.

"Okay, honey. Let's get dad," said Katjaa.

"Dad! Dad! C'mon, let's EEAAAAAT!"

"Kenny, come on, honey. Don't make the children wait," Katjaa called.

Kenny turned to Quinn and Lee, and whispered, "I'll make an excuse for you. Get that thing off!"

Once the barn was clear, Quinn set to work unscrewing the lock. To make things move a little quicker, she only unscrewed them enough for Lee to grab them and unscrew the rest of the way with his hand. They didn't hesitate to open the door, when they were finished, but they almost wished they had taken the time to brace themselves.

What they saw inside the room behind the door was unimaginable. There was blood everywhere – on the floor, on the tools, on the counters...It was a real horror show.

"Maybe...Maybe it's from one of their own animals," Quinn suggested.

"This is a dairy, not a ranch," said Lee. "They don't have that kind of livestock."

"Maybe it's something they found in the woods."

"Our people have been hunting in these woods for weeks, and the only thing we've found are walkers and the parts of animals the walkers haven't eaten," Lee argued. "Either the St. Johns are eating tainted meat, or..."

"Or?"

"Or they're eating some other kind of meat."

Quinn felt a cold chill go down her spine, as she spotted a beartrap in the the back room. "Oh, god...the beartrap. From this morning. It was altered to have no release latch. They put that trap out there. They altered it."

"But why would they remove the release latch? It doesn't make any sense."

"It does if their prey was capable of releasing themselves from the trap," said Quinn. "And there's only one one type of animal capable of that...a human."

Lee felt sick. "Maybe they're just scattering them all over to stop the bandits from coming to the farm."

Quinn gestured to the back room. "Look at all that blood, Lee. If they're using them to trap the bandits, then why is this here? Are they bringing them back here and cutting them up for fun?"

Lee tried to think of a more logical explanation for all of this, other than what Quinn was implying – it was just too horrifying to even think about. But try as he might, there was no other explanation that he could find.

"Hey, Lee! Quinn!" Andy called from the front porch. "Where are you?"

"Shit!"

Lee and Quinn moved as fast as they could to put the lock back the way it was. Like they'd done when removing it, they turned the screws with their hands, until they couldn't anymore, then Quinn tightened them with the multitool.

"Lee? Quinn?" Andy called again. He was getting closer to the barn.

"What do we do now?" Lee asked.

"Follow my lead."

Quinn grabbed Lee and ducked inside the closest stall. She pulls him on top of her, as she lays down in the hay. After positioning his hands on her body, she pulled him into a kiss. Lee was taken by complete surprise. It was all so fast, he had no idea what was happening.

"Lee?" Andy peered around the corner into the stall. His face flushed with awkwardness. "Whoa!"

Lee and Quinn parted and pretended to be surprised and embarrassed at being caught, though Lee's surprise wasn't all that faked.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to, uh...interupt," said Andy.

"No. No, we just got a little...carried away," said Quinn with false embarrassment.

Lee helped her to her feet, and she smiled awkwardly, as she passed both of the men to head towards the house, picking straw out of her hair. Lee stared on after her, still in shock at what had just happened.

Andy nudged Lee's arm and gave him a gesture of congratulations. Lee forced a smile, then followed Quinn out of barn with Andy close behind him.

Brenda was passing out more biscuits, when the three stepped into the house. Nearly everyone was already sitting at the table waiting for their meal. But aside from Quinn and Lee not yet sitting down, Mark was missing. Why?

"Well, there you two are! What took you so long?" Brenda asked upon seeing her son return with their other two guests.

"Just marveling at your farm, here," Quinn lied. It was a very clear lie to everyone, but then it was supposed to be. Andy had already caught them "coupling", so playing on that with a clear and awkward lie was their safest bet.

"Where's Mark?" Lee asked.

"Now, don't you worry about him. I've already brought some food up," said Brenda. "You two just go get cleaned up, and let him rest. Bathroom's right outside in the hall."

Lee gave a nod and Quinn flashed a smile, as they exited the dining room. They walked a little ways down the hall to the bathroom – out of earshot of anyone still in the dining room – before speaking to one another.

"Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" Lee asked.

"We've gotta check on Mark," said Quinn. "There's no reason he shouldn't be at that table with everyone else...unless..."

Lee glanced back at the dining room to make sure no one was peeking out at them, before turning to head up the stairs. They both ascended the steps as quietly as they could manage with such old wooden stairs. There were a couple of steps that squeaked beneath them, but there was enough chatting going on in the dining room to cover the sound.

When they reached the top, the two split up to look for Mark, but he wasn't in any of the rooms. Where could he be? If it weren't for the blood on the floor of one room, they'd almost think Mark had never been brought up here.

"Maybe they took him somewhere else," Lee suggested.

Quinn shook her head. "No. Brenda said she brought some food _**up**_ to Mark. _**Up**_, as in he was up here."

"Then where is he?"

Quinn was about to tell him that she didn't know, when she noticed another door. There was an extension cord leading directly into it from downstairs. Quinn opened the door, expecting to finally find Mark, only to find a closet.

"Looks like a bunch of medical waste in here," Lee noted. "IV tubes, saline, morphine...What would dairy farmers need with this kind of stuff?"

Quinn knelt down to examine the extension cord. If this was a closet, then why was there an extension cord leading into it? She connected the cord with the extension, and a light came shining through the hole that had been drilled for the cord to be fed through.

"What the hell?" said Lee.

Quinn and Lee follow the wall that the light is coming from behind to the room where Mark was presumably treated – the one with blood on the floor. It wasn't all that suspicious before, but now there seems to be a light glowing from behind the bookcase.

Lee slid the bookcase aside as quickly and as quietly as he could. Quinn wanted to open the door and see what was inside, but she was afraid to. It was one thing to suspect and imply that these people might be cannibals, but it was another thing entirely to actually find out that she was right. And if she was right, there was no telling what state Mark would be in behind that door.

To Quinn's horror, she had been right. When Lee opened the door, there was Mark, laying on the floor without both of his legs. Quinn's jaw dropped, and she covered it with her hand.

"Lee..." Mark lifted his head to look at Lee. He sounded drugged as all hell.

"Mark...what the hell happened?!"

"...brothers..." Mark was struggling to speak.

"What the hell happened to your legs, man?"

"Don't...eat...dinner," Mark warned.

Quinn's stomach knotted up. The same thoughts she'd had when the dead began to eat people came rushing back into her mind. This isn't real, this is just a dream, this can't be happening, etc.

"Lee?! Quinn?! Did you two fall in?" Brenda called from the dining room. "Dinner's on the table and everyone's havin' at!"

Lee and Quinn shared a horrified look. They have to stop the others from eating Mark meat. They raced down the stairs as fast as they could, praying that they made it in time to at least stop Clementine from eating.

"Don't eat that!" Lee shouted.

Clementine stopped just short of taking a bite. There were a few others that did too, but some had already dug in.

"Lee, Jesus, man! Did you find something?" Kenny asked.

"Aww, sit your ass down! This lady has made you a meal," said Larry.

"Yeah, Lee. What's gotten into you two?" Lilly asked.

"Sit down and eat your goddamn dinner," Larry ordered. "This woman made you a home-cooked meal, you ungrateful shit. Show some respect!"

"Thank you, Larry." Brenda gave Lee and Quinn a nasty look.

"You don't even have the _**decency**_ to take a handout when you're offered one. It just makes me sick! It really does!" Larry went on.

"That's enough, Larry," Brenda shushed.

"Ken, maybe we should..."

"Hang on, Kat. Just keep Duck close."

Lee had tried to warn them all, but Larry was on his last nerve. In that moment, he gave up on trying to play nice with Larry and help protect him. "You know what? Fuck you, Larry! Eat up."

Quinn looked at Lee in surprise. No matter how he felt about the guy, or how big of an asshole he was, she was shocked that Lee would encourage Larry to eat human meat.

"I will," said Larry. "And I'll enjoy every last bite."

Larry stuffed the bite-sized piece of meat from his fork into his mouth, savoring the taste of Brenda's fine cooking.

"Quinn," Lilly called. "What the hell is going on with him?"

Katjaa began reading the room, and took Duck''s plate away from him. He wasn't happy about it, but he didn't argue with her too much.

"What's going on?"

"We found Mark. He's..." Quinn hesitated to say. "He's missing his legs. Someone cut them off."

"This is a dairy, not a ranch," Lee added. "Think about it!"

Everyone looked to their hosts for some sort of denial. They didn't get one.

"It's true," said Brenda.

"Everything coulda turned out okay for you folks," said Danny.

"He woulda died anyway! We gotta think about livin'!" Andy added.

"Settle down, honey," Brenda shushed. "Growing up in rural Georgia, you're taught not to waste. It's how I was raised and how I raised my boys."

Everyone just stared in shock. Were these people serious? Cannibalism?

"Now, you got monsters roamin' around that do nothin' but eat people. And for what? To continue to rot till they eat some more!" Brenda continued. "We think we can put that meat to better use."

"Just let us go," Lee pleaded.

Brenda looked like she was considering it. But the answer she gave wasn't one they wanted to hear. "Andy's right; we go after folks who were gonna die anyways, one way or another."

"Like y'all," said Danny.

Lee and Kenny shared a look of silent communication. A moment later, they tried to grab a weapon of some kind for self-defense. Unfortunately, the St. Johns were prepared for this. Andy and Danny each drew their guns and pointed them at Lee and Kenny.

"No one's goin' anywhere," said Andy.

"We got plenty of use for y'all right here," said Danny.

There was a sudden eruption of threats, pleas for mercy, and questions of why. But as loud as that was, all fell silent at the sound of something falling down the stairs. They all looked towards the doorway, as they listened to the scraping sounds of something crawling closer.

"Pllleeease...someone...!" Mark called out, as he crawled.

Various gasps filled the room at the sight. Hearing the St. John's explain it was different from actually seeing their friend legless. It was all so shocking, no one really knew what to do. No one, except the St. Johns.

Before the others could snap out of their daze, Danny hit Lee over the head, knocking him smooth out. After that, Larry and Kenny were forced to carry him to the meat locker at the back of the barn, where they locked everyone except Katjaa and Duck up. Their fates would be decided later.


End file.
